I have a new Rikon 10-325 BS. I have decided on the Lenox Kerfmaster, but am looking for blade width advice.People seem torn between the 1/2” and the 3/4” BS blades (regardless of Brand), citing tensioning issues.
My question is, Lenox also makes a 5/8” blade…would that be a happy medium or am I missing something?

I should mention that my main use of this blade is to take 1/8” slices off of large, figured/exotic woods

I am successfully using a Timberwolf 3/4 3TPI blade on my 14” Rikon 10-325. That said, it is indeed tensioned to the max (literally) in order to pull this off. Your own example of the 10-325 may or may not support the tension required for a 3/4” blade, it is THAT close.

I would wholeheartedly support trying a 5/8” 4TPI blade on this BS. This would be a great compromise IMO, and that should give you flexibility in tensioning the blade.. And ALWAYS use the de-tension lever after each use, to promote greater longevity of the tension spring.

thanks Mike,your post regarding this subject in another thread is what got me to wondering if the 5/8” would be a viable compromise.

I have used the Woodslicer for a few years on another (smaller) BS and it seems to work well for me, thats why I thought I would go with the Kerfmaster, as it seems to be the exact same blade, but signifigantly cheaper.

Tensioning different blade widths shouldn’t be an issue because you can adjust the tension required in each blade. Regardless of the brand of blade, the things that you should consider are the TPI of the blade, the type of wood you’re cutting(hardness, abrasiveness), and the size of the wood. Though tpi and the size of the wood should come along because a bigger piece of wood needs to have a coarser tooth pitch to have bigger space on the gullet area allowing the saw dust to move out of the cut. Also, if you need to resaw woods in thinner pieces, you also need to consider the blade’s kerf.

-- "someone has to be wounded for others to be saved, someone has to sacrifice for others to feel happiness, someone has to die so others could live"

Randy,FWIW, the “stock” blade that came with my Rikon 10-325 (and probably yours as well) is a 5/8” 6TPI which, by and large, is a decent “general purpose” blade. I really had no complaints (regardless of the online rants about ‘stock’ blades) about this blade. I do think a better choice, as I mentioned earlier would be the 4TPI version because it will cut quicker cleaner than the 6TPI. Will that change in TPI help better control blade drift, I do not personally know whether it would help or not.

I do have to say that when I moved to the 3/4 3TPI all drifting of the blade was history for me. Maybe I could have run a bit tighter on the 5/8” for a better cut, I don’t know. I do know though that I had the tension set to the 5/8” mark on the scale. Wider blades do track better, there is no question about that.

Mike,I havent set up my new BS yet, as I am transitioning to a new shop, so I dont know about the stock blade.The kerfmaster is a 3/4TPI. the 1/2” Woodslicer (also 3/4tpi) I had used on a 12” Jet worked really well, so I will try the 5/8” Kerfmaster and see how it goes.For 18 bucks from Spectrum Supply, I dont see any downside to trying it out.